#MythNoMore: Does Your Skin Actually Become Immune To Skincare Products Over Time?

Kannagi Desai

Junior Beauty Editor

See What You're Missing Now!

Sign in to see the latest in life-changing products,
empowering stories and infinitely amusing videos!

Stories

Videos

Sign in with Facebook

Don't have a Facebook Account?

Continue

Don't have an account? Sign up now

Already have an account? Sign in here

We’re back at it again!

Being in this industry, you often get asked a million questions, about skincare or make-up recommendations, you find yourself in the middle of a conversation that sheds light on a whole new world that you were absolutely unaware of.

I went shopping the other day with a friend, and right now (and always) I am a sucker for skincare products and now that the dry months are beginning I decided to stock up. While my friend was busy reading labels, I was busy adding my favourites to the shopping cart. After her third attempt at trying to pick something, she made a comment about how it’s easier for me since I work in the industry. My retort was something on the lines of just pick the usual, why is that so difficult and lo and behold, a statement was thrown at me that blew my mind! She said, “I don’t want to use the same stuff, my skin is immune to it.” I swear it was one of those moments where I felt like the world around me stopped, at this point, I am not even being dramatic.

After this revelation, it was only fair that I asked more people and researched to find out if my dear friend was the only one with this thought process, but of course, she wasn’t.

The Claim:

Miraculously, if you still haven’t gauged this mammoth myth, people believe that using the same skincare products for a very long time actually make your skin immune to their benefits.

Expert Speak:

As much as I would have liked to scream off the rooftops and smack my friend with my favourite skincare product, I knew I needed professional backing in order to not be smacked back! I hounded Mumbai-based dermatologist Dr. Harshna Bijlani who is also the Medical Head at The AgeLess Clinic to back me up. “Your skin doesn’t build up an immunity to skin care products over time. While your skin can build up a tolerance to certain ingredients, which basically means there aren’t any negative effects. Apart from that, there is no direct mechanism for your skin to become immune to the effects of skin care products,” she asserted. She also insisted, that if you really think your products are not working for you, you should visit your aesthetician or dermatologist to get to the bottom of this and switch things up with caution.

You May Have Reached A Plateau

Let me break it down for you, if you think your skincare product isn’t doing anything anymore, that’s because you’ve reached a plateau. It means that your skincare product transformed your skin, made it a little better and now that is the new normal for your brain. Yes your skin evolves and changes, and you’re often asked to switch it up, but what that means is that you need to start using the same ingredients that work for you in a more potent cocktail. Seriously, this doesn’t mean you can’t try new things, it just means that if one product is working for you, you CAN use it for a long long time!

The Verdict

Again, repeating what Dr. Harshna said, NO your skin is not immune to your favourite skincare products. There is a reason why some products are known as the ‘holy grail’, that’s because they are the miracle workers on your skin. If anything, they actually start working better with elongated usage patterns.